The bad guys have changed over time, meaning the focus of liberalism has changed over time. When it was the yoke of the Catholic Church that was denying individual freedom (say starting in the 16th and 17th centuries), liberals attacked it, favoring religious tolerance and free expression. When it was kings and queens (in say the 18th and 19th centuries), liberal attacked them, favoring democracy and representative governments and the protection of individual rights. In the 20th and 21st centuries (since the rise of the Industrial Revolution) it has been big business and oligarchs who are denying widespread individual freedoms, so liberals have focused their attacks on redistributing the economy and regulating capitalism.